My Starting Fitness Level
When I first started secondary school at 11, I foolishly put my hand up to say I liked running, and suddenly found myself expected to stay behind after school two days a week to join in with the school cross country team. Whoops!
It soon became clear that my secondary school was not just any old school when it came to cross country. We had an extremely dedicated coach, and it seemed that my school seemed to win most local events, and very regularly took part in national competitions, which they often won as well. Which was a good and a bad thing. The good speaks for itself, but the bad – well, I was pretty average. So it meant I was usually First Reserve for every race. I’d do really well in training, and even do training outside of school with my dad. But then for the qualification runs others would somehow produce something from nothing which meant they’d qualify over me, with me missing out by seconds. Which meant the reserve position – traipsing around the country following the team, but not running or getting any of the glory.
This got old mighty quickly, especially as I was bullied pretty badly by other members of the team, and it didn’t take long before the two nights a week and trips away from my family on sick-inducing coach trips just didn’t seem worth it any more. So I forgot about running. Still carried on cycling and walking as any active teenager would, but bye bye to competitive running.
The years went by and with a few breaks I still kept reasonably fit. I could usually walk 10 miles in a day without too much problem (except during the second half of pregnancy when I couldn’t manage 10 yards!) and I’ve dabbled on and off with cycling over the years, including a few months cycling to and from work (11 miles each way) several times a week and a 50 mile ride thrown in. We had our chained up bikes stolen out of the locked shed in our garden the day after I brought our second daughter home which has put me off that a bit, I have to say.
The last year has seen pregnancy, not only with the four months of strict bedrest, but I was confined to a wheelchair on the few times I was allowed out. Worse, I suffered from SPD as I did in my first pregnancy, which is when the body produces too much of the hormone relaxin in pregnancy, which makes the ligaments relax and can cause intense pain in the pelvis and lower back. I needed the wheelchair even without the bedrest, and could hardly sleep at night due to the pain. I gained a lot of weight with this pregnancy. Add to that the associated exhaustion and responsibilities of a newborn (and my toddler) so I am not as fit as I would like to be. Still, I have been walking a lot, and I am getting some fitness back!
22 years after I last ran a race and here I am about to compete in my next race. As before, I don’t have a hope of winning (ha ha!!) or even coming in the top few thousand. But I will not come last, and I *will* complete the course. And this time I get to enter rather than watch sadly from the sidelines.
